Gates warns of split between military, civilians

WEST POINT — Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates was presented Thursday night with West Point's highest honor, the Sylvanus Thayer Award.

BY MICHAEL RANDALL

WEST POINT — Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates was presented Thursday night with West Point's highest honor, the Sylvanus Thayer Award.

The award, named for an early superintendent who established many of the military academy's traditions and principles, is given by West Point's Association of Graduates each year to a citizen whose career illustrates the school's motto, "Duty, Honor, Country."

In his acceptance speech, Gates chose to focus on the last of those words — specifically, on the "fragile and increasingly distant relationship between America and those who volunteer to defend it."

"For many Americans, our wars remain an abstraction that does not affect them personally," Gates said.

And, he said, the percentage of the armed forces coming from the Northeast, the West Coast and major cities continues to decline, while larger numbers come from places like the South and small towns, where other economic and career opportunities might be fewer.

Alabama, for example, with less than 5 million people, has more recruiting centers than Chicago, which has 9 million people, Gates noted.

But Gates also expressed hope that the next generation of military leaders, including the West Point cadets who made up a large chunk of his audience in the mess hall Thursday night, will consider those things when it becomes their job to tend "the relationship between soldiers and society." He warned that a civilian-military divide can turn a society ugly.

"I realize this is pretty heavy material for a ceremonial occasion," Gates conceded near the end of his remarks. "I'm just not very good at fluff."

In his introductory remarks, West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. David Huntoon Jr. said that as defense secretary, Gates "was always focused on taking care of" the soldiers, sailors, Marines and Air Force personnel who served under his leadership.